HARRIER CLUB’S ADVANCE

Evening Star, Issue 23378, 22 September 1939, Page 5

HARRIER CLUB’S ADVANCE

HORNINOTOH'S FINE RECORD SUCCESS IN MODIFIED MARATHON FASTEST TIME TO GEORGE AUSTIN

[By Pistol.]

No harrier club in Dunedin has made the advance shown by the Mornington Harrier and Amateur Athletic Club during the last two or three years, and by its performances in. winter racing this season it is fully entitled to be regarded as the up-aud-coniing club in Otago, so far as the winter side of the sport is concerned at least. Mornington has been at its best in team work, and in the Edmond Cup steeplechase filled second place in the teams race, it was third in the Otago cross-country teams championship, and one of the highest honours that has yet come the way of the club was the performance of O. Kennedy, its sole representative in Otago’s winning team at the New Zealand cross-country championship, in filling third place in the individual championship, Kennedy, in his first national championship event, being the first ,Otago man home. On the same day that Kennedy was establishing a reputation for his club and province in the national event, another Mornington runner, E. Lundquist, was winning the Ness Cup mile at Dunedin. Mornington also won the sealed handicap in the Lovelock relay race. , , These efforts were capped further during the road racing season, for Mornington not only provided the winner in W. Sanders of the Port-Dunedin road race and in 11. A. Wilson of the modified marathon road race, but it finished first in the teams event in each case and carried off the. Nickels Cup for the best aggregate in the two events. Surely a highly successful climax to a season of accomplishment of which any club might be proud. There was an unfortunate happening in the modified marathon road race, in which the distance usually covered is 14 miles. Through the fact that the official car was held up by traffic officers at a point in the road which was closed because of aerodrome work, the officials were unable to get through to turn the runners off at another point before several had passed the correct turn and gone on towards Whare Flat. That being so, the whole field was allowed to follow, and the runners thus covered about 1$ miles more than the recognised distance. While the actual result may not have been affected and the time placings certainly not, there is little doubt that there would have been some alteration in the minor placings, for the extra distance favoured the back-markers, and the scratch man, George Austin, finished second and gained fastest tune by over 7min. Austin secured second fastest time in the Port road race, in the early stages of which A. 11. Geddes was too fast for him, but Austin finished on very strongly and was only about 60yds behind Geddes at the fyiish. In the modified marathon race Austin followed his usual practice of running well within himself in the early stages, and at the five and a-half mile mark when. J. G. 'Barnes (the ex-New Zealand crosscountry and mile champion) retired with a recurrence of knee trouble, (Barnes was actually holding fastest time and going remarkably well. It was bad luck for him, but from that stage onwards Austin made no race of the issue for time honours, finishing seven minutes ahead of his Caversham clubmate, 0. M'Gregor (4min), who ran his best race to date for second fastest time. M‘Gregor gained second fastest time to Austin in his club’s Brighton to Green Island road race some time ago. and there is no doubt that he has benefitted from running with Austin. R. A. Wilson, the winner of the modified marathon, ran from the 9.15 mark, showing vast improvement over the form he displayed last year He finished very strongly over the last two or three miles for a long handicap man. A particularly fine performance was put up by the St. Paul’s (Invercargill) runner, R. Hughes, who followed up his effort in gaining fifth place in the Port road race by finishing third on Saturday. Had the race been decided over the correct distance he would have been second, for he was verv tired over the last stages of Saturday’s race. Hughes started from the same mark as Wilson, and at eight miles led Wilson by 100 yards, but through his lack ot competition he failed to press home his advantage, and the fast finish of George Austin enabled the Caversham man to catch Hughes in the last mile. Hughes is a runner with plenty of grit and determination, and more should be heard of him in road .racing. !R. M. Carroll (Celtic United), who finished second in the Port road rac ®' registered another fine run for fourth place, and with more experience of the distance might have finished in a place. No man has done more to bring the Mornington Club to the proud, position it now occupies than its president, J l . Sanders, and his win in the Port road race and another good performance in the modified marathon in which he finished fifth proved verjf popular among athletes in general. In 11 years of competition, the Port road event marked Sanders’s first win in open company, but he has always been an excellent team man, and his efforts in this direction have been big factors towards Mornington’s success. REPRESENTATIVE ATHLETE'S SUCCESS By winning the M’Lean Challenge Cup at the Mornington Club’s sports last Saturday, the representative crosscountry runner, T.. O. Kennedy, scored a well-earned victory.. He was runner-up on previous and this year was on the back mark in all the running events. The most consistent field performer was T. D. Wallace, who recorded the best jump andl the best putt on Saturday. ... , Alex. Holmes is another junior who should go well in the field events in the summer, and he is to be congratulated on the excellent showing he has made this year. In the triangular sports meeting Mornington is expected to field a very solid team, and with W. Burrows, T. Kennedy, A. de Courcy, and I. Templeton taking part, Mornington’s chances of securing the shield appear very rosy.